Grand Canyon

There is a vast chasm between the Board of Directors and the management team.

The Board invests perhaps 250 hours a year (or 6+ working weeks) at their tasks while the management team is likely to invest over 3,000 hours a year. At the C-suite level it’s almost always a 24/7 x 365 job.

Not only is there this vast difference in annual invested time, but 80% of the directors would not have a background in the company or industry on whose board they serve. To be sure, they have been chosen for individual attributes such as a glowing track record of achievement at the head of some organization but most often they are not chosen for company/industry knowledge.

In addition, directors are usually involved in many other activities from a second or a third board to their own investments and recreational interests let alone children and grandchildren.

The end result is an information chasm and a communications chasm not unlike the Grand Canyon – a mile deep and 20 miles across.

Making informed and intelligent decisions across that chasm is no easy task.